During these 2 months I spent about 45 hours in the air, taking 9 different flights on 3 different airlines.
My first flight was on a KLM B777 (thank goodness for B777s) from Singapore Changi Airport to Amsterdam Schipol Airport, which was a very beautiful airport with lots of shops selling lots of goods which I could not afford. Chocolates - 10 EURO. Parker pens. Cheese. Wooden Clogs. Salami. Cameras. DVDs. Expensive European newspapers (why buy when you can get it on the plane?).
My second was on a KLM Fokker 50 (which seats 50 passengers in a single class) from Amsterdam to Koln-Bonn Airport. The Fokker 50 was a propeller plane with 2 prop jets on its wings. When I embarked the plane, the temp was 0 degrees C. I was freezing, yet the pilot said on the PA, I'm sorry that our heaters are malfunctioning today. We will turn on the engines to keep the temperature comfortable. And so he revved up the propellers, and i smelled kerosene. Was frankly a bit worried but I told myself, it's KLM. Royal Dutch Airline. It's safe. And off we went to Cologne!
When I arrivded at Cologne, I found out my passport was missing! I put it in my back jeans pocket but it's not there anymore! OMG. Was terrified. I searched high and low, checked my pullover pockets, my jeans, my bag, no where to be found! Thankfully I stood up and found out I have been sitting on it all along! Relief man!
My third flight was the same KLM Fokker 50 back to Amsterdam. Watched the beautiful sunset from 20,000 feet. Was gorgeous i tell you. The guy beside me was irritating tho. he was doing something on his laptop and was probably racist.
My fourth was a KLM B777 back to Singapore from Holland. Because I did not sleep the previous night and had a pretty long day (flight's at 9pm), i slep throuhout the flight depsite having a world class entertainment system in front of me. The KLM entertainment is not bad, with good songs and up to date movies (I watched Simpsons and 2 episodes of Heros and lots of comedies on the way to Holland). but due to sheer exhaustion, I just slept. Until the fat flight attendent in the KLM Blue uniform came and put a tray of breakfast in front of me... I ate some breakfast (no mood really, cos I was very very sad that I had to leave my friends from around the world after a week of joy and fun)... and listened to classic Elvis songs. Cant help falling in love, in the ghetto and Bridge over troubled water moved me to tears (well, nearly)... I wanted to whip out my camera to see the photos all over again which was in my jeans pocket but I couldnt... I had to stand up to loosen the pocket and i did not want to stand up because i was sitting right smack in the middle of the centre.
My fifth was a JAL B777 (thnak goodness for B777s, I just love the plane).. I sat beside a Japanese dude who kept asking fro Bi-ru bi-ru from the flight attendent... Luckily he's quite nice to me, and the best thing was that I had the window on the B777! Hahhaah.... 2 noisy Singaporean kids were seated behind me, so I had to adjust the volume of my Die Hard 4.0 movie to ultra loud... Food was good, completely own the KLM food.
no.6 was back from Narita Airport on a JAL b747. Sat on the last last row of the B747 (thankfully window seat again), and the view was fantastic. Food was good, movie was good (Bourne Ultimatum), service was good. Absolutely perfect except that the trip was over :(
I was apprehensive about flight number 7, a Garuda Indonesia B737 flight from Singapore to Jakarta. But the food was good (or I was just extremely hungry)... Turbulent flight but it was quite okish... The couple from France behind me kept talking and talking, but i'm ok... Was thinking about what to present in the conference to eavesdrop...
Number 8- Garuda 747 from Jakarta to Bali. Btw, did I mention that Indonesian Airports are quite cool? Jakarta has this kampong roof like structure which was culturally appealing to me. I slept during the 2 hour transit in Jakarta on the seats... too tired...
Number 9- Garuda 737 from Bali back to Singapore.. Also did not sleep much the night before. Was sitting at the emrgency exit, i read the emergency operating manual at leats 5 times, I could memorise it already. The pkane kept bouncing up and down throughout the flight, and I kept looking out of the window...saw nothing but clouds. Beautiful. Did not eat the food served on board cos I full from the big mac meal which i ate in Denpasar Airport. There was a taiwanese couple (who apprently are Singapore citizens) sitting in front of me and I could sense that there maariage was on the rocks man. Their son is some snobby dude who is only 13, and so the flight attendent told him not to seat at the emergency exit where only 15 year olds and above could be seated at. So he took his ipod from the baggage compartment above and scooted to the bakc of the plane to sit, leaving his parents at the seat in front of me. The father is some grumpy idiot who is very typical Singaporean and likes to complain here complain there. Not cool. Not cool. His wife is ok, luckily did not lie back and give my legs a hard time. Behind me was a bunch of crazy British talkative tourists who keep thinking Batam was Singapore. And the british woman behind me keep pushing against my seat, i wanted to turn around and say something but decided to give Singapore a god image. Aiyah, tolerate a bit and let the Singapore tourism prosper more lor. After all, if I turn back and say something, the women will not come back to Singapore, so whats the point?
So after my 3 trips, I returned (for good) to my bed in my home. Home Sweet Home. I love my home, and my room and my bed.
No hotel can beat my home. No hotel bed can beat my bed.
My mum also came back from Taiwan on Xmas eve, and my sis from Kathmandu, Nepal, more recently. My sister kept her poor father and mother and brother waiting outside for her while she shops for perfumes and cosmetics inside! We waited 2 hours already for you cos your flight was delayed! Thankfully she bought lots of stuff for me so i'm not complaining:)
What a long post... Sigh.. I better go plant trees to offset my carbon emissions already...
Sunday, December 30, 2007
2007
I had wanted to write a long long post about 2007, but decided otherwise.
If you want to hear about issues, go yahoo and search bush, iran, iraq, saddam, terrorists, nuclear, natural disasters, ... or you may just type shit and all these stuff will appear immediately.
Of course, there's a lot to talk about climate change as well, but well, international herald tribute writes better than me.
2007 for me was a good year. and I will tell you why. now.
Because in 2007, i gained something very extremely important and valuable... and that's perspective.
Yea, i know, you must be thinking, what the hell is this idiot writing here? What is perspective?
Yea yea yea, you'ld rather think about that cute boy or cute girl in the opposite class... Oh I saw him this morning! ooh ohh!
Yea yea yea, you'ld rather think about Jay Chou is coming to town! And pawn off your mother's wedding ring to afford the tickets to his show...
Yea yea yea, some say Halo 3 is the most important thing in 2007. Or cry over Vista...
And of corse, there are some real important decisions to make throughout the year... Should I watch Book of Secrets or I Am Legend? Oh my... what an important decision.
Of course, none of the above matter much to me. For me, it's How on Earth did Man Utd lose to West Ham last night? And how on Earth did Ronald miss that penalty? And why on Earth did Fergie play Flectcher instead of Anderson?
And tyco chelsea just won against newcastle. crap.
Anyway, there's so much to cheer about in 2007!
Firstly, I was kicked out of ISLE back at the start of the year. Thank you hor, Mr Seah, for kicking me out of your prestigious prgramme. I am eternally grateful to you for giving me the chance to go to Germany (where I met great friends from around the world, 16 other countries, to be exact), to go to Japan (where I made friends with RJC students and managed to catch an idea of what university life overseas is about, and visit Disneyland (for the fifth time i am saying OMG that place is just fantastic, and i just love disneyland), and to go to Bali for an evironmental conference where i made more friends from around South East Asia. Of course, Germany and Bali really motivated me and gave me resolve.
So Thank you for kicking me out of your wonderful programme! (no offence to students to participated, just that sometimes, the adults p*** me off.)
And of course I am very very grateful to the wonderful (this time, I actually mean it) corporations, organisations, government and indviduals who nominated, recommended, selected, and sponsored me to go for these trips! Without these 3 trips, I would probably not gained the most important thing this year, which is 'perspective'.
Secondly, I found out that RJC is not as bad as it seems afterall...
The percentage of irritating people as cmpared to the entire student population is merely about 50%, which was way-off the initial estimation by me (80%)...
and although the school is really an institute where time-wasting, useless protocol observance and bureaucratic measures rank really really high (perhaps second only to governments), there is also lots of good stuff in the school. Stuff like what?
1. RISK, where i always enjoy seeing myself get thrashed or thrashing others
2. Drama and gossip(not performed by Raffles Players)
3. Celebrations (there's always something to celebrate, no matter what)
4. Sleeping during lectures (which I will try to not practice next year, it's one of my resolutions)
5. PW (it's finally over!)
6. Ice tea (better not be affected by inflation, i'm warning you, stall 2 auntie)
7. Opportunities (Ok this one's really true, this school is a place of opportunities)
As I flip back my calender before recycling it, there's actually not much stuff la... sometimes there are tests, sometimes SPA, sometimes Inter House Championship stuff, and a whole lot of events and celebrations.
But there's one thing that p*** me off. Mr Hodge said, guys, we want you to help the poorer students in the school who cannot afford the school fees. Yes sir! THEN WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND $30,000 ON NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS? AND OH YA, BEFORE I FORGET, THERE'S ALSO TAKE 5! Oh my oh my? Where is the love, indeed...
Ok, Mr Hodge, you are a good principal and I will miss you, but i still cannot understand why are you willing to spend spend spend like that? Do you know that 30,000 means you can give 1,000 bucks to 30 deserving students?
But no, you choose instead to entrust the tax money of my papa and mama to a group of wise leaders called student councilors (no offence, really) to blow it away! In 3 hours, the money is gone! Oh....my.....money!
Yes yes, the performance was good. take 5 was wonderful. But to students who need to give tuition after school to pay for their lunch the next day, 1,000 bucks is better.
Which is why One Earth is commited to helping these folks. the proceeds of our MEGA jumble sale will be 100% directed to helping RJC students in need. We believe in social responsibility, heljng not just to protect Earth and it's finite resources, but making sure that people benefit from it as well.
Happy 2008! (Note, there's free breakfast on the first day of school! )
If you want to hear about issues, go yahoo and search bush, iran, iraq, saddam, terrorists, nuclear, natural disasters, ... or you may just type shit and all these stuff will appear immediately.
Of course, there's a lot to talk about climate change as well, but well, international herald tribute writes better than me.
2007 for me was a good year. and I will tell you why. now.
Because in 2007, i gained something very extremely important and valuable... and that's perspective.
Yea, i know, you must be thinking, what the hell is this idiot writing here? What is perspective?
Yea yea yea, you'ld rather think about that cute boy or cute girl in the opposite class... Oh I saw him this morning! ooh ohh!
Yea yea yea, you'ld rather think about Jay Chou is coming to town! And pawn off your mother's wedding ring to afford the tickets to his show...
Yea yea yea, some say Halo 3 is the most important thing in 2007. Or cry over Vista...
And of corse, there are some real important decisions to make throughout the year... Should I watch Book of Secrets or I Am Legend? Oh my... what an important decision.
Of course, none of the above matter much to me. For me, it's How on Earth did Man Utd lose to West Ham last night? And how on Earth did Ronald miss that penalty? And why on Earth did Fergie play Flectcher instead of Anderson?
And tyco chelsea just won against newcastle. crap.
Anyway, there's so much to cheer about in 2007!
Firstly, I was kicked out of ISLE back at the start of the year. Thank you hor, Mr Seah, for kicking me out of your prestigious prgramme. I am eternally grateful to you for giving me the chance to go to Germany (where I met great friends from around the world, 16 other countries, to be exact), to go to Japan (where I made friends with RJC students and managed to catch an idea of what university life overseas is about, and visit Disneyland (for the fifth time i am saying OMG that place is just fantastic, and i just love disneyland), and to go to Bali for an evironmental conference where i made more friends from around South East Asia. Of course, Germany and Bali really motivated me and gave me resolve.
So Thank you for kicking me out of your wonderful programme! (no offence to students to participated, just that sometimes, the adults p*** me off.)
And of course I am very very grateful to the wonderful (this time, I actually mean it) corporations, organisations, government and indviduals who nominated, recommended, selected, and sponsored me to go for these trips! Without these 3 trips, I would probably not gained the most important thing this year, which is 'perspective'.
Secondly, I found out that RJC is not as bad as it seems afterall...
The percentage of irritating people as cmpared to the entire student population is merely about 50%, which was way-off the initial estimation by me (80%)...
and although the school is really an institute where time-wasting, useless protocol observance and bureaucratic measures rank really really high (perhaps second only to governments), there is also lots of good stuff in the school. Stuff like what?
1. RISK, where i always enjoy seeing myself get thrashed or thrashing others
2. Drama and gossip(not performed by Raffles Players)
3. Celebrations (there's always something to celebrate, no matter what)
4. Sleeping during lectures (which I will try to not practice next year, it's one of my resolutions)
5. PW (it's finally over!)
6. Ice tea (better not be affected by inflation, i'm warning you, stall 2 auntie)
7. Opportunities (Ok this one's really true, this school is a place of opportunities)
As I flip back my calender before recycling it, there's actually not much stuff la... sometimes there are tests, sometimes SPA, sometimes Inter House Championship stuff, and a whole lot of events and celebrations.
But there's one thing that p*** me off. Mr Hodge said, guys, we want you to help the poorer students in the school who cannot afford the school fees. Yes sir! THEN WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND $30,000 ON NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS? AND OH YA, BEFORE I FORGET, THERE'S ALSO TAKE 5! Oh my oh my? Where is the love, indeed...
Ok, Mr Hodge, you are a good principal and I will miss you, but i still cannot understand why are you willing to spend spend spend like that? Do you know that 30,000 means you can give 1,000 bucks to 30 deserving students?
But no, you choose instead to entrust the tax money of my papa and mama to a group of wise leaders called student councilors (no offence, really) to blow it away! In 3 hours, the money is gone! Oh....my.....money!
Yes yes, the performance was good. take 5 was wonderful. But to students who need to give tuition after school to pay for their lunch the next day, 1,000 bucks is better.
Which is why One Earth is commited to helping these folks. the proceeds of our MEGA jumble sale will be 100% directed to helping RJC students in need. We believe in social responsibility, heljng not just to protect Earth and it's finite resources, but making sure that people benefit from it as well.
Happy 2008! (Note, there's free breakfast on the first day of school! )
Saturday, December 22, 2007
I am very much grateful to all of you
Things are turning out fine for me. Slowly but surely, there is progress. With response from schools getting better and Samuel working harder than ever to pull in more schools, I am quietly confident that Thingsyoucando! will create history in Singapore as the first youth-led major initiative that advocates action and awareness at the same time. Even Primary Schools and Special Schools are joining hands with us to make this project a success.
Yesterday was a tiring day. Together with Zi Jian (Film Soc vice chair) and Ming Quan (Alchemy Club chair) we worked 7 hours straight, skipping lunch, and pausing only for toilet breaks and the occasional chat, to produce the backbone of the Thingsyoucando slides and the complete production of the trailer. The trailer has been a long story. When I flew back from Bali, I immediately sent an email to Zi Jian, persuading him to produce the trailer for Thingsyoucando!... I alone cannot do much... But Thingsyoucando is a beauty in itself. With zero funding (as yet), minimal advice from RJC, we still managed to pull through to today. Why?
The answer is... friends.
Without friends I am nothing. I am useless. But with the support of Alex Goh and his talented team of artists, we produced the posters. With the support of Zi Jian, we produced the trailer. With the help of Samuel, we managed to contact all the schools in Singapore. With the support of Calvin, we will produce the video. With the support of Arun, Ming Quan, Muhd, Nick, Thingsyoucando held firm. With the support of WWF (Singapore), NEA, SEC, ECO, and even CNA we found support and advice. With the support of an MP, Dr. Fatimah Lateef, we found hope. With the support of my overseas friends, in particular Renzo and Anthony, I found encouragement. With the support of my family members, I found strength.
Without the support of my friends, Thingsyoucando would never have been born.
The Thingsyoucando! report, Conversation for Conversation pre-planning report and the Hu Ching 2007 Year End Review will be published next week on my blog.
Thank you so much. Hu Ching is not perfect, and never will be, but he loves all his friends.
And he is grateful to all.
RJC is indeed a place of talents.
Yesterday was a tiring day. Together with Zi Jian (Film Soc vice chair) and Ming Quan (Alchemy Club chair) we worked 7 hours straight, skipping lunch, and pausing only for toilet breaks and the occasional chat, to produce the backbone of the Thingsyoucando slides and the complete production of the trailer. The trailer has been a long story. When I flew back from Bali, I immediately sent an email to Zi Jian, persuading him to produce the trailer for Thingsyoucando!... I alone cannot do much... But Thingsyoucando is a beauty in itself. With zero funding (as yet), minimal advice from RJC, we still managed to pull through to today. Why?
The answer is... friends.
Without friends I am nothing. I am useless. But with the support of Alex Goh and his talented team of artists, we produced the posters. With the support of Zi Jian, we produced the trailer. With the help of Samuel, we managed to contact all the schools in Singapore. With the support of Calvin, we will produce the video. With the support of Arun, Ming Quan, Muhd, Nick, Thingsyoucando held firm. With the support of WWF (Singapore), NEA, SEC, ECO, and even CNA we found support and advice. With the support of an MP, Dr. Fatimah Lateef, we found hope. With the support of my overseas friends, in particular Renzo and Anthony, I found encouragement. With the support of my family members, I found strength.
Without the support of my friends, Thingsyoucando would never have been born.
The Thingsyoucando! report, Conversation for Conversation pre-planning report and the Hu Ching 2007 Year End Review will be published next week on my blog.
Thank you so much. Hu Ching is not perfect, and never will be, but he loves all his friends.
And he is grateful to all.
RJC is indeed a place of talents.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Announcement
Hey guys, gals, everyone who knows me.
Just wanna inform you that I am still alive and that this blog is still functioning. I seriously dun know if anyone still reads this blog but I really dun have time to blog these days.
I just came back from 2 overseas trips, where I had a lot of fun and thoroughly had so much fun and learnt so much. I will be going overseas again next week from sunday 9th to wed 12th, this time to Bali, Indonesia, where I'll be a delegate for Singapore for the South East Asian Youth Environmental Network (SEA YEN) held in conjunction with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC). This time this trip is very formal, very serious and I am excited. We're going to attend 3 full days of discussion and conference with youth delegates from South East Asia and we will produce a charter to be presented at the Framework Convention through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
I have recently posted photos of my Germany and Japan trip on my facebook, please click on the link you see on the link list if you want to see more.
I am also very occupied with Things You Can Do!, which is, as you know, my environmental project. In addition, I am also planning ahead for One Earth activities which are the putting up of school toilet posters in partnership with council, the setting up of 11 more recycling bins around the school in partnership with Estate office, giving advice to IHC games next year, the planning of Conversation for Conservation, and the Jumble Sale and Earth Week.
As you can see I am very busy, I havent touched my homework and I'm a bit worried that I may have to spend Christmas stuck at my desk, alone, studying and revising and doing all these stuff.
I am afraid that I have no time to be an OGL. I have decided that should I become OGL, I would be a burden to my fellow OGLs which is why i rejected the offer. I hope you undertand you know who you are. On the other hand I will still perform my duties as a registration officer for Oteam because this is my responsibility and I will not run away. Even if I have to hide alone next year along school term to mug in the toilet I will not run away from the things I should do.
This is also the reason why I had to disappoint my juniors for declining your invitation for me to perform for that special concert. I simply had no time but I will still attend the concert as an audience because I would like to clap for you guys.
After returning from Bali I will focus on my One Earth stuff and my academic work, which remain my main priorities.
Thank you for staying with me if you're still reading this.
See you soon :)
Just wanna inform you that I am still alive and that this blog is still functioning. I seriously dun know if anyone still reads this blog but I really dun have time to blog these days.
I just came back from 2 overseas trips, where I had a lot of fun and thoroughly had so much fun and learnt so much. I will be going overseas again next week from sunday 9th to wed 12th, this time to Bali, Indonesia, where I'll be a delegate for Singapore for the South East Asian Youth Environmental Network (SEA YEN) held in conjunction with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC). This time this trip is very formal, very serious and I am excited. We're going to attend 3 full days of discussion and conference with youth delegates from South East Asia and we will produce a charter to be presented at the Framework Convention through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
I have recently posted photos of my Germany and Japan trip on my facebook, please click on the link you see on the link list if you want to see more.
I am also very occupied with Things You Can Do!, which is, as you know, my environmental project. In addition, I am also planning ahead for One Earth activities which are the putting up of school toilet posters in partnership with council, the setting up of 11 more recycling bins around the school in partnership with Estate office, giving advice to IHC games next year, the planning of Conversation for Conservation, and the Jumble Sale and Earth Week.
As you can see I am very busy, I havent touched my homework and I'm a bit worried that I may have to spend Christmas stuck at my desk, alone, studying and revising and doing all these stuff.
I am afraid that I have no time to be an OGL. I have decided that should I become OGL, I would be a burden to my fellow OGLs which is why i rejected the offer. I hope you undertand you know who you are. On the other hand I will still perform my duties as a registration officer for Oteam because this is my responsibility and I will not run away. Even if I have to hide alone next year along school term to mug in the toilet I will not run away from the things I should do.
This is also the reason why I had to disappoint my juniors for declining your invitation for me to perform for that special concert. I simply had no time but I will still attend the concert as an audience because I would like to clap for you guys.
After returning from Bali I will focus on my One Earth stuff and my academic work, which remain my main priorities.
Thank you for staying with me if you're still reading this.
See you soon :)
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